Archive for the ‘AMC Hornet Hatchback’ tag

So what do the AMC Hornet, the Chevrolet Vega, the Chevrolet Blazer, the Pontiac Aztek and the Plymouth Voyager minivan all have in common? As Greg Gjerdingen reminded usrecently in the Hemmings Nation Flickr pool, all four offered camper packages as accessories.

Sleeping in your car isn’t anything new, but it was AMC’s predecessor, Nash, that capitalized on the practice by offering seats that folded down into a bed as early as the late 1940s. At the same time, Nash also made window screens available that would in effect turn cars into mobile tents, but the idea of offering an actual tent package seemed not to materialize until sometime after American car manufacturers began to build hatchbacks in the early 1970s, and AMC was right there with the Hornet Hutch Mini-Camper Kit.

Available through the Group 15 accessory catalog, the Hornet Hutch (part number 8993019) debuted in 1973 with the Hornet Hatchback. Dealer cost was $61.15, and according to Eddie Stakes, it was available through 1980, about as long as the Hatchback body style lasted in AMC’s lineup, on both the Hornet and its replacement, the Concord (the Spirit, while considered by many a hatchback design, was formally called a Liftback).

Greg spotted this particular Hornet Hutch package at the Midwest Mopars in the Park show last month. What other factory camper packages do you recall?

UPDATE (30.July 2012): Jesse, the justacarguy, came across a sleeper trunk option (accessory?) for a 1968 Pontiac Bonneville. Might as well put all that trunk space to good use, right?